Shubman's Pov

My phone rang breaking my deep slumber on a Sunday morning and I groaned while grabbing my phone from the drawer as I answered the call without even looking at the name as I said sleepily, "Hello? Who's this?"

"Yess! Finally! It's the day when I've woken up before my punctual boyfriend that too on a Sunday!! It's like the biggest achievement of my life" Arshita's voice rang in my ears and I couldn't help but smile slightly as I sat up on my bed when my head was striking with throbbing pain because of all the drinking last night.

I like her a lot, isn't it obvious! I'm totally deeply and crazily in love with her!

Those words rang in my ears as soon as I recalled last night's events and my smile vanished, I always thought that Manish had feelings for Arshita but I didn't knew that they were this deep and I can't even blame him because they've been together for so long, anyone would develop some feelings for someone if they're always together!

"Hello you still these Shub" Arshita spoke up again breaking the chain of my thoughts and I realized that she was still on the call, I just shooked my head as I said, "Yeah! I'm here! Btw how come you're up early today?"

"Excuse me I'm not up early, you're waking up late, it's almost noon. Look around yourself sleepyhead" Arshita said and I looked at the clock widening my eyes, I had never woken this late ever before.

"I...didn't even realised I was sleeping for so long, and also I just slept long for a day and I'm the sleepyhead instead of you now?" I asked her and Arshita laughed while saying, "Okay fine you're not! I'll always be the sleepyhead! Happy?"

"Yeah happy!" I said and she chuckled while she again said, "Oh right, would you please come out and open the door of your house?"

"What? Why? Don't tell me you're..." I was saying when she interrupted in between saying, "Why? Can't I visit my boyfriend? And don't be worried, Chia already told me that your parents weren't home today and that she's also out with Ishu, so I thought to spend the Sunday with you, aren't I great?"

"Yeah, you're the best" I said smiling slightly as I immediately got out of the bed and walked out towards the main door and opened it to find Arshita standing there leaning on her car.

She smiled while waving at me as she almost ran upto me to hug me but before that Lisa decided to jump on her scaring her, "Ahhh! Not her again. She's always angry at me!" Arshita said going some steps back and I laughed while picking up Lisa in my hands caressing her hair and said, "Ofcourse! She's jealous of you, she thinks I might love you more that I do to her"

"Ohh reallyyy? Did she tell you that?" Arshita asked rolling her eyes and I chuckled while she walked inside not before looking at Lisa and saying, "I also hate you! And he's mine not yours!"

I closed the door as I kept Lisa down and we both sat in the living room, Arshita was still giving looks to Lisa who seemed to be also glaring at her, I just smiled as I pulled Arshita closer and finally hugged her while she hugged me back tighter.

"She might also bite me at this rate" Arshita said still hugging me as Lisa was still glaring at her and and I chuckled while kissing the top of her head saying, "Don't worry! She won't!"

We separated after a moment and Arshita gave me a smirky look whike I rubbed the back of my neck asking, "What?"

"I heard you and Manish had a pretty good drinking party last night" Arshita said and I just looked here and there as she added, "And you always said that you can't hold your liquor whenever I asked you to drink with me"

"Well it just happened!" I said running a hand through my hair and she just giggled saying, "It's fine! It's just strange how you and him got so friendly in such a short span of time"

"I know right! I feel more strange after yesterday" I said almost murmuring while sighing and Arshita looked at me confused asking, "Why?"

"Huhh? No I...just.....I guess we did, it is actually pretty strange" I said looking down and Arshita smiled while holding my hand as she said, "But you what? I'm really happy, you both are the two of the most important persons in my life and I'm glad that you both are getting along!"

"I know, and I'd be glad to get along with anyone who's important to you" I said and Arshita smiled widely as she slowly came closer to my face and while I tucked her hair strands behind her ear, and when our lips were just an inch apart she said, "You haven't brushed you teeth yet Shub!"

I made a face as she pulled back trying not to laugh while I shook my head, "That was really mean but I'll be back after brushing and you won't have another excuse!" I said and she just giggled saying, "You should take a shower also"

"Just wait and I'll be back" I said and she nodded her head smilingly saying, "I'll make sure that Lisa doesn't bite me until then"

"I hope you both become friends" I said while walking up the stairs and Arshita just laughed.

After sometime I had finally freshened up totally and was ready to go back while no matter whatever I tried my mind was still lingering over the things that had happened last night, I wanted to tell Arshita a lot of things but I didn't knew how, I didn't wanted to hurt her, and I would also be lying if I said that I wasn't scared of the thought that she might leave after knowing that Manish harbours feelings for her!

Some or the other way it kept bothering me and I wanted to sort it out with her, all I wanted was to tell the world that I have a girlfriend and it's her, I wanted to be like any other normal couple, not the one hiding from everyone, especially after yesterday, it was getting difficult for me to keep it all a secret because of my insecurities. I wanted to be sure about us.

"I have to do it! I can do it!" I murmured to myself while looking in the mirror as I was trying to muster up all the courage I had in myself to talk about this topic with Arshita.

"Shubman! Shubb! Come down or you'll definitely find me dead any other second" I heard Arshita's voice from downstairs and I almost rushed down to find Arshita was scooched to the corner of the sofa as Lisa was barking at her and almost ready to jump up.

"You scared me!" I said while walking upto her and Arshita immediately held my arm tightly while pulling me beside her while I tried to make Lisa calm down.

"And she was scaring me" Arshita said making a face and I couldn't help but laugh in return of which I received a glare, "Don't you dare leave me alone with her again" Arshita said and I nodded my head.

"Fine I won't! Come on I'll make some coffee for us" I said and she nodded coming behind me saying, "I'm also coming, I'm not gonna stay with your Lisu baby anymore"

I just chuckled as we went into the kitchen and I made coffee for both of us while taking out some snacks, meanwhile Arshita had been looking around and fidgeting with things here and there, as she claimed she didn't even knew how to make a damn thing in the kitchen.

I was busy looking at coffee waiting for it to boil up when Arshita came and hugged me from behind, "You're distracting me, don't blame me later if I ruin the coffee because of you" I said smilingly and she giggled while still hugging me as she said, "It's just been so long since we both spent some time alone like this"

"I know right, sometimes we're too busy to date trying to hide our relationship from everyone" I said and Arshita went silent for a moment while I thought if I said that too bluntly which could maybe hurt her.

Arshita's Pov

"Are we?" I asked Shubman while getting a big back because that statement seemed like something he'd been trying to say since a long time.

Shubman just kept looking down as he turned off the gas knob and turned to look at me while I looked at his blank face, he looked like as if he had a millions of things in his heart which he wasn't able to let out, and that was making him a bit distant nowadays.

I had a feeling that Shubman had been pretty weird since the last few days and I couldn't even figure out whatever was going on inside of his mind or heart! He was way too closed off sometimes.

"I didn't....meant to say it....like that" Shubman said and I looked at his face coming of my thoughts, I took a deep breathe as I held his hands while I asked, "Are you mad at me for something? Did I do something.....that maybe....hurt you"

"No.... No Arshu... It's not like... But —" Shubman was saying but stopped and I knew something was definitely going on inside him but he just didn't knew how to say it out, "But? There's a 'but', which means something is wrong! What is it Shub? Please say it, you know you can open up in front of me" I asked and Shubman took a deep breathe as he looked in my eyes and finally spoke up without stopping for once, "I wanna tell everyone about our relationship! About you being my girlfriend! I don't wanna hide it anymore Arshu!

"WHAT?" I asked as my eyes went wide and I couldn't utter anymore words as I looked at his face unable get the possibilities of what might happen if we do so! It was definitely gonna be a disaster!

"Say something!" Shubman said after a moment keeping his hands on my shoulders and I blinked multiple times shaking my head in denial as I said, "No... No... That can't happen, it's not possible, not right now Shub! We can't do this! It's...gonna be a.....huge problem"

"Why? Why is it a problem? Why would anyone have a problem if you date someone? Are you embarrassed to date me? Or do you—" Shubman said and I stopped him in between shaking my head, "No it's not like that Shub, why the hell would I be embarrassed? It's just that I don't know how my friends are gonna react. This is the first ever secret I've kept from them! They're all gonna retaliate really bad"

"Are you sure you're talking about your friends and not only Manish?" Shubman asked throwing his hands up in a frustrated manner and I looked at him with a confused face, "What? How did Manish came between all this?"

"Isn't he always between all this? Don't you think so Arshu? Because I think that you're just trying to hide this from him as you know he's gonna be angry" Shubman said and I looked at him in shock. Like what the hell was he talking about right now?

"What are you even trying to say? It's just that he's my best friend and there isn't a secret I've ever kept from him, and I just need some time to think of a way to tell him so that he doesn't feel like I'm.....like the worst best friend ever" I said getting a bit annoyed because I didn't knew why Shubman would ever bring Manish into this conversation.

"Is that it Arshu? I guess it's something else and what I don't understand is that why are you always ignoring it?" Shubman said and I looked at him making a face asking, "What does that even mean Shub?"

"You wanna know why I've been acting weird lately? Because I'm scared that I'll lose you, that you might choose him over me, because you guys have always been together, like inseparable" Shubman said and now my annoyance was reaching out because I couldn't understand what he was talking about.

"What? Choose whom over you? What you even saying Shub" I asked shouting a bit and he spoke back in the same voice tone, "MANISH! I feel insecure because he's in love with you Arshu! Isn't that why you are scared to tell him about us? Because he can't see you with someone else besides him?"

"What the fuck Shubman? Are you serious right now? Do you even know what you're talking about, Manish is my best friend and I'm his! That's it, we aren't anything more than that" I said shouting and Shubman scoffed while shaking his head saying, "I don't think so Arshu! I don't think so! Because if it would've been like that you wouldn't be hiding our relationship from him, it's only because you know he's not gonna take it normally because of his feelings"

"You can't be serious Shubman? Are you seriously trying put labels on me and my best friend? Do you have a doubt on me about this relation? You're not allowed to say just whatever comes to your mouth!" I said angrily and Shubman sighed while shaking his head,"These are not my words, Arshu! Manish told me himself, he's in love with you, can't you see it? Or maybe you think that you're just gonna ignore it by not saying anything about us?"

"Look! I've told you thousands of times that there's nothing going on between me and Manish, and if Manish ever had feelings for me, I'm sure he would have told me, he's not someone to hide his feelings" I said and Shubman just looked at me with hurt filled in his eyes while my own vision was getting blurred because of the tears which threatened to come out anytime.

"Then maybe you don't even know your best friend properly Arshu!" Shubman said and I kept staring at his face with hurt and tears filled in my eyes as his words were hitting my heart like an arrow which was aimed just at that point to be hurtful.

"I don't care about what you think anymore because I'm not gonna stand here and take your bullshit! I've already explained my point multiple of times to you but you still wanna assume some crap about me and Manu then go ahead, I'm not gonna stop you! And what Manish told you himself about his feelings but never told me. I don't believe that Shubman! I've known him since we were like ten, there isn't a single thing that I don't know about him" I said taking some steps back wiping my tears with the back of my hand while Shubman kept staring at my face.

"That's what I'm scared of Arshita! You obviously know everything about him but maybe just this once you're wrong about it" Shubman said and I just took a deep breathe trying to control my tears as he added, "Because of which I don't think I can date you in secret anymore, either we tell everyone about us or there isn't anything between us anymore!"

"So...are you....breaking up....with me?" I asked almost in murmur and Shubman shook his head in denial slowly saying, "I'm just giving you the choice to choose what you want for us"

"Choices in a relationship goes both ways Shubman, you can't blame on one person!" I said giving him one last look waiting for that one emotion change but he stood still in his place with that blank face so I just left!

I came out of his house as I immediately got inside my car and the next moment I broke down into tears while hiding my face into my palms! This was a first! Shubman and I had never fought like this ever! Ofcourse we had some small fights but they would just end with the day! It had never ever reached till the point where one would have to say the words 'break up'

I kept crying until my phone rang I took a deep breath trying to compose myself and wiped off my tears as I finally picked up my phone and Manish's call flashed upon, I picked up his call and he spoke up on the lieu of hello, "Arshu, where the hell are you on a sunday? I've been trying to reach you since the last two hours, come over to my house right now, I'm playing basketball alone in the garden because everyone bailed on me, Harry is sleeping like a bear, Ishan is our with Shriya and Rishabh and Tanya are having home date! Can you believe them, they're all idiots. Just come and keep me company or I'm gonna die of boredom"

"Won't you stop?" I asked trying to keep my voice stable as he wasn't ready to stop his monologue anytime soon as I added, "I'll be there"

"What's wrong with your voice? Are you crying Arshu? What happened? Where are you? Is anything wrong" Manish asked with worry filled over his voice and I just took a deep breathe because tears kept flowing out, he just knows me way too well to hide anything from him.

"Just wait and I'll be there, just don't worry" I said and ended the call before he could ask anymore questions, I wiped my tears once again as I finally drove off towards Manish's house to get some answers from him.

After fifteen minutes I was standing in front of his house, I got out of my car and walked straight inside to find him in the garden tapping over his basketball again and again with a worried look on his face.

I walked towards him and he sensed my presence as he immediately looked up and almost sprinted towards me and spoke up hurriedly keeping his hands on my shoulders, "What the hell is wrong with you, you'd scared the shit out of me! Why were you crying? Who did this to you? Arshu please tell me? I'm not gonna leave that person!"

"Manish do you love me?" I asked looking into his eyes and he stopped speaking at once as he looked back in mine and didn't uttered a word!
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Finally finally got the time to finish this chapter, it was seriously a big task for me! But here it goes, and also here's the turning point of this story, the trouble in paradise for the three of them. What's gonna happen?? ❤️❤️❤️

And also I would like you all to try out my new story "Let's Play Pretend" I'm putting all my time and effort into making it but aren't getting the kind of attention and feedback which I've always gotten on my previous books so it feels disheartening, so guys please check it out and do vote and comments you views. 💕💕💕